Burn from lights?? Need input

PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
DoubleAtotheRON said:
@PadawanWarrior .. It really is something you don't have to worry about when you get it dialed in... you can concentrate on other things like environment, light PAR readings, your notes, what kind of wine you want with dinner tonight... It just makes your life easier as a grower. Especially if you have a direct soil probe that can read soil and liquid both. I can mix up my 55 gallon tank in about 5 min, and just by doing it over and over again with adding everything in milliliters, I rarely have to correct my mix. I don't stress about ~50 difference in PPM or a couple of tenths off on PH because all the plants are a little off anyway in their PH. Good news, is you have that 6.3-6.8 window to work with. But, as I have said before, I tend to overshoot it a little... like I'll get a reading of 7 fresh and wet, the next morning it will settle 6.5-6.6, and start gradually dropping as the soil dries out. By the time they are ready for a feeding, I'll get a 5.8-6.0 reading, and feed again at 7-7.3 , and they will be in that "window" to eat as the PH drops and soil dries out.
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And soon I will know the actual soil pH, instead of guessing with the runoff, lol. I can't wait man. I have a feeling this tool is gonna kick ass and make my life a lot easier. I'm not growing on you or Ren's level, but it's still gonna be helpful in my modest grow, lol.
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
DoubleAtotheRON said:
We are harvesting as we speak... not my favorite part of this biz, but it's got to be done!. The good news is that we are running 6 strains, and they all will not be done at once. We've taken 2 strains and they are drying.. Monday is the next take down of 1 more strain, then the last 2 should be done in another week or so. .... COVID19 has us stressing a bit, as we don't want our usual outside trim crew coming into our grow, but I think we'll manage (takes sip of wine)
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So you're saying it's time for a visit, lol.

Nobody here is excited about harvest time anymore either, haha. It can be a lot of work.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Bignutes said:
Definitely don't use that, POS. Use something like this, just don't drop it in water it will fuck it up and throw erroneous readings. When I can use it for a month and put it back in calibration solution and it's reading within 0.05 it's good enough. Quality control isn't probably very good on these but I've had success with them.

VIVOSUN PH Meter Digital PH Tester Pen for Water : Amazon.ca: Home

VIVOSUN PH Meter Digital PH Tester Pen for Water : Amazon.ca: Home
www.amazon.ca
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Your pen won't test soil, the bluelab I linked will test soil/coco and liquids. I also have an apera ph60S (spear probe) but it costs more, @DoubleAtotheRON has an even nicer Apera.

The whole point @DoubleAtotheRON and I are trying to make is that it doesn't matter what your input pH is, the root zone pH can be way different due to the medium buffering. So you need a tool that reliably and accurately tests the pH of the root zone. A liquid only pen works fine in DWC but not so well in soil lol.

As to the quality of the bluelab, I had mine sitting for 4 months (storage cap w/KCL) and it was spot on when I used it again and calibrated it. With any pH meter how you care for it will to a large part determine life span.
 
Bignutes

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
Your pen won't test soil, the bluelab I linked will test soil/coco and liquids. I also have an apera ph60S (spear probe) but it costs more, @DoubleAtotheRON has an even nicer Apera.

The whole point @DoubleAtotheRON and I are trying to make is that it doesn't matter what your input pH is, the root zone pH can be way different due to the medium buffering. So you need a tool that reliably and accurately tests the pH of the root zone. A liquid only pen works fine in DWC but not so well in soil lol.

As to the quality of the bluelab, I had mine sitting for 4 months (storage cap w/KCL) and it was spot on when I used it again and calibrated it. With any pH meter how you care for it will to a large part determine life span.
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If you go back and read my post in your grow journal I describe the procedure of how to use a liquid ph pen to get your medium ph. It's not complicated and its based on using neutral unbuffered distilled water to readily accept the soils ph from runoff. Its not as simple as your pen but for $160 less it gets you there.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Bignutes said:
If you go back and read my post in your grow journal I describe the procedure of how to use a liquid ph pen to get your medium ph. It's not complicated and its based on using neutral unbuffered distilled water to readily accept the soils ph from runoff. Its not as simple as your pen but for $160 less it gets you there.
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Yeah I wanna do that daily on a bunch of plants when a meter makes it fast, accurate and easy.
 
JoeBlow5823

JoeBlow5823

Well-Known Member
DoubleAtotheRON said:
Kinda early in the morning for slamming a fellow grower isn't it?
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Half kidding but seriously man for the average home grower, dirt is much better. Coco/hydro requires crazy attention to detail and every pheno of every strain likes different environments. Everything grows pretty good in dirt. Maybe not the very best of the best but pretty damn good. I personally would never put the effort required into hydro.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
JoeBlow5823 said:
Half kidding but seriously man for the average home grower, dirt is much better. Coco/hydro requires crazy attention to detail and every pheno of every strain likes different environments. Everything grows pretty good in dirt. Maybe not the very best of the best but pretty damn good. I personally would never put the effort required into hydro.
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TBH the least effort required to grow is with certain types of hydro. Coco not being one of them lol. Flood and Drain hydro is so hands off that it's mind blowing. I ran f&d for a LONG time and with many houses that I only visited each once a week. Results were staggering and talk about easy, after the first few days the pH is stable (if using RO h2o) and I ran a reservoir for the whole cycle with only the float valve auto top off (solenoid valve/timer so it's only active during dark hours when floods wouldn't happen). The real effort in hydro is just the learning. I would personally avoid DWC due to the many issues people have, that said results can be staggering if you have a strain thats root rot resistant. Anyways, don't bad mouth hydro because it's difficult, thats simply not the case.
 
Bignutes

Bignutes

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
Yeah I wanna do that daily on a bunch of plants when a meter makes it fast, accurate and easy.
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1) Once you have your dirt recipe figured that things gonna collect dust.
2) With dirt you don't need to be bang on 6.5 here, you generally good between 6-7, better between 6.3 to 6.6 ish for our mixes in general, also need to factor in buffer capacity of water and ppm for ph drift, this could mean your soil optimum is now 6.0 to 6.3 ish.
3) Not all soils are created equal, you don't know if 6.5 is the right ph for a given particular soil type, ie calcium content, element antagonism, microbial activity. You know it works for your soil and nutrient regime, but what about mine? I've tested the outdoor soil here and its 7.5 upto 8.2 and it grows awesome because its alluvial soil ie a flood plain. So great you nailed 6.5, what does that mean for buddy next door.....not a pinch of coon shit.
4) You said it yourself, after four months you took it out and tested it. Set it and forget it, all your pots are the same soil typically, you do one you've done them all
5) That tool isn't meant for the average grower.
6) That thing isn't the holy grail of ph testing, meaning it's not what the use in a lab setting. The accuracy is +/- 0.1, resolution is +/- 0.1, I would call that to be ok, not great. It could very well be slick advertising and sexy looking product but underneath the same ugly redheaded step child that I'm using, all sourced from the same factory in China.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Bignutes said:
1) Once you have your dirt recipe figured that things gonna collect dust.
2) With dirt you don't need to be bang on 6.5 here, you generally good between 6-7, better between 6.3 to 6.6 ish for our mixes in general, also need to factor in buffer capacity of water and ppm for ph drift, this could mean your soil optimum is now 6.0 to 6.3 ish.
3) Not all soils are created equal, you don't know if 6.5 is the right ph for a given particular soil type, ie calcium content, element antagonism, microbial activity. You know it works for your soil and nutrient regime, but what about mine? I've tested the outdoor soil here and its 7.5 upto 8.2 and it grows awesome because its alluvial soil ie a flood plain. So great you nailed 6.5, what does that mean for buddy next door.....not a pinch of coon shit.
4) You said it yourself, after four months you took it out and tested it. Set it and forget it, all your pots are the same soil typically, you do one you've done them all
5) That tool isn't meant for the average grower.
6) That thing isn't the holy grail of ph testing, meaning it's not what the use in a lab setting. The accuracy is +/- 0.1, resolution is +/- 0.1, I would call that to be ok, not great. It could very well be slick advertising and sexy looking product but underneath the same ugly redheaded step child that I'm using, all sourced from the same factory in China.
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I strongly disagree with pretty much everything you said but I don't have the time or energy to debate it with you. Lets just say to each their own.
 
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